Reply #12: UNSCOM Inspections Did Not End Successfully [View All]

[DrFunkenstein]

Saddam Hussein had repeatedly jerked UNSCOM around, playing games with off-limit "presidential" and "sensitive" zones, with Iraqi observers, and with stripped down production sites. In September 1997, Iraqis were caught running away from a supposed food-testing lab with biological test equipment and incriminating documents. Later that month, Iraqi guards held inspectors at gunpoint in a tense episode that ended with the inspectors withdrawal.

In June of 1998, UNSCOM excavated weaponized VX nerve gas in destroyed warheads. A single drop of VX can kill within an hour. Iraq had vehemently denied their existence until that point. In the following months, the inspections process collapsed altogether, ending with evacuation before Operation Desert Fox.

UNSCOM did not end with any guarantees of Iraq's disarmament, and instead documented their desire to continue producing WMDs. No inspectors were allowed in for four years, and that was one month AFTER the IWR vote.

Saddam Hussein had a twenty-five year history as a violently loose cannon with a history of using chemical weapons on a grand scale and a desire to acquire the ability for a nuclear program. After 9/11, we could not afford to let such people play the dangerous games that Saddam had enjoyed in the 90's.

The containment policy you suggest was, in my opinion, unacceptable. While Kucinich has consistently maintained this position, even Howard Dean eventually understood that an active inspection process, backed by the real threat of force, was a necessity.